Sunday Food for Thought

For when a man loses touch with his personal shadow and identifies himself with an ideology that claims absolute validity, whether it be political, a religious or a national authority that imposes the claim, he lays himself open to invasion by 'absolute' forces from the unconscious and loses his human limits; and, as Jung points out, 'The individual', Jung writes, 'is so unconscious that he altogether fails to see his own potentialities for decision. Instead he is constantly and anxiously looking around for external rules and regulations which can guide him in his perplexity.' He continues, 'The individual who wishes to have an answer to the problem of evil...has need...of self-knowledge...He must know relentlessly how much good he can do, and what crimes he is capable of [that is, he must be well acquainted with his own shadow] and must be aware of regarding the one as real and the other as illusion. Both are elements within his nature, and both are bound to come to light in him, should he wish, as he ought, to live without self-deception or self-delusion.'

- The I and the Not-I, M Esther Harding